Green party spokesman hides his views on cannabis behind rape

BEN Duncan, the Green party’s national spokesman on home affairs Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet member for communities, has responded to a question on whether he had ever smoked cannabis by declaring:

“I only smoke weed when I’m murdering, raping and looting!…”

It turns out that Jimmy Carr and other comics are wrong. Rape is not a laughing matter. Raping under the influence of illegal weed is not a laughing matter. Raping under the influence of legal alcohol is behind a joke.

There are calls for Coun. Duncan to resign.

He responds:

“I apologise unreservedly for mentioning rape in what was meant to be a light-hearted, ironic tweet. I understand that this may have caused distress and I’m sorry. On the topic of my blog about cannabis cafes, the wording is clear that I was not calling for ‘coffee shops’ to open in Brighton but was simply joining the current debate about drug decriminalisation by satirically asking whether Brighton is as liberal as Amsterdam used to be. I’m sorry if anyone misunderstood my intention.”

Sod the rape gag. The big joke is that a politician is still using the old caveat of hiding his own views behind the “join the debate” mantra.

And Amsterdam is not liberal. It is utterly conservative. The drugs are restricted to approved places and banned from all others. Amsterdam’s red light district was not a sign of a country at ease with itself; it is a ghetto where the druggies, perverts and can be controlled.